A/N: Hi everyone! We hope you are all enjoying your weekend. We have to thank our beta SweetDulcinea who is the best! She is a writing machine and has lots of great stories herself that you would love. Check out our profile for her link.

Thank you to our reader, and friend, tg10781, who dedicated a chapter of her new fic "An Angel Closes Her Eyes" to us by naming one of her chapters "Beautiful Stranger." We love you. Check out her story here… www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/s/5880132/1/An_Angel_Closes_Her_Eyes

Disclaimer: SM owns all things Twilight…we just own a very unhealthy obsession with R-Patz. Did you see those new pictures of him from the set of "Water for Elephants?" ***THUD***

So we're okay, we're fine
Baby I'm here to stop your crying
Chase all the ghosts from your head
I'm stronger than the monster beneath your bed
Smarter than the tricks played on your heart
We'll look at them together then we'll take them apart
Adding up the total of a love that's true
Multiply life by the power of two

Power of Two - Indigo Girls

*Bella*

After spending a wonderful Christmas Eve night with Edward, Kate and Elyse, I carried my sleeping daughter into our apartment from the car. As I settled her onto her bed and started removing her clothes to put her in her pajamas, she sleepily opened her eyes.

"Momma, we have to put out cookies for Santa," she said groggily.

"You're right, Elyse. Thank you for reminding me."

We quickly finished getting ready for bed and made our way into the kitchen. I pulled a Tupperware out of the pantry that held homemade sugar cookies Elyse and I had made the day before. We had decorated them with colored frosting and sprinkles. I had bought different shaped cookie cutters so we had all the holiday shapes you could think of.

"So which ones do you want to leave for Santa?" I asked her as she looked into the Tupperware from where she was perched on the step stool I kept in the kitchen for her.

"Ummm," she contemplated, looking through all the choices. "How about the reindeer, the bell, and the Christmas tree one," she told me as she pointed them out.

"Sounds perfect," I told her as I placed the three cookies on a plate I had taken out of the cabinet. I walked around her and grabbed the milk out of the fridge and poured some into a glass. Taking the glass of milk, I handed Elyse the plate of cookies and walked into the living room with her following close behind.

We placed Santa's snack on the coffee table and I then went and reached behind the Christmas tree to plug in the lights.

"Santa's going to love our tree and snack, Momma," Elyse gushed.

"Yes he is, but Santa won't have a chance to see it if a certain little girl doesn't go to bed," I told her. I had to hold back the laugh that threatened to escape when her eyes bugged out of her head as she turned on her heels and ran back down the hall toward her room.

I followed after her, tucking her in and kissing her goodnight.

As soon as I was sure she was sleeping, I made my way into my bedroom where I retrieved the bags I had hidden in my closet. I dragged them out into the living room along with my wrapping paper and other supplies. Turning the radio on softly so I could listen to some Christmas music, I poured myself a glass of wine, sat on the floor and got to work.

Just as I was finishing with the last gift, I heard my cell phone chirp. I leaned across the floor and grabbed my purse, pulling it closer to me, and took my phone out. I had a new text message.

Are you still awake? – E

Yup- B

My phone immediately started to ring and I smiled.

"Hello there," I whispered sexily into the phone.

"Hi there, Gorgeous, what are you doing?"

"Just finishing putting out Santa's gifts," I answered.

"Yeah me too," he responded. "I miss you."

My heart couldn't help but thump in my chest.

"I miss you too," I told him honestly.

"I wish you could have stayed tonight, but I understand why you couldn't."

He seemed to hesitate slightly before he began to speak again.

"Bella?"

"Yes," I answered.

"Do you think tomorrow, after spending the day at my parents' house, you would consider coming back here with Elyse, and…staying over? I understand why we can't wake up together on Christmas morning…this time…but I would at least like to fall asleep with you on Christmas night."

I knew Edward and I had done all the right things in our relationship when it came to our girls. Spending the night was not something we rushed into or took lightly, and we made sure we talked to the girls about it together. I even had further conversations with Elyse about it when it was just us. I wanted her to be comfortable with new people coming into our little bubble. As much as it would kill me to distance myself from Edward, I would do it in a heartbeat if I felt that it would cause Elyse any type of discomfort. But she was so mature beyond her years and she told me that she liked Edward a lot and was glad he was my boyfriend.

"Bella? Are you still there?"

"Oh yeah, sorry. I got lost in thought."

"Well…what do you think? I really want to spend more time with you, and I don't want to have to always do that when the girls aren't around."

"I agree, Edward. I think that will be fine. I'll pack us an overnight bag for tomorrow," I said as I wrapped my arms around my legs, pulling them into my chest. I couldn't help the smile that was spread across my face. Spending any time with Edward made me so happy; having the girls around was the cherry on top.

"Great. I will pick you two up around two o'clock tomorrow on our way to my parents' house."

"Sounds like a plan," I agreed.

"Okay, Gorgeous. I'll let you get to sleep. If Elyse is anything like Katie, I'm sure you will be woken up at the crack of dawn tomorrow, and since I know I will be keeping you up very late tomorrow night, you are going to have a long day. So go and get some sleep. Goodnight, Baby."

I felt my face flush. Just simple words from this man made my body react in uncontrollable ways.

"Goodnight yourself, Gorgeous."

I heard him chuckle before we both hung up the phone. I got up off the floor and put away all the wrapping paper. When everything was cleaned up, put away, or stacked under the tree, I slipped into bed and fell asleep.

*Edward*

I felt like I had just fallen asleep when all of a sudden I was awakened by something, or rather someone, sitting on my chest. I opened one eye and saw Katie staring back at me. As soon as eye contact was made she started squealing.

"Daddy, get up! Santa came! I already looked under the tree and there are thousands of presents," she told me.

I couldn't help the laugh that escaped me. "Thousands, huh?" I asked her in a teasing tone, knowing clearly there weren't that many. I learned years ago that although I would always spoil her at Christmastime, I needed to rein it in because between me, my ex-wife and my family, we would need a second home to hold all the stuff she got each year.

"Yes, Daddy, thousands," she reiterated. She leaned forward and squished my face together between her little hands. "I need you to get up now please," she said before giving me a big, wet smooch. "And Merry Christmas, Daddy."

I laughed and wrapped my arms around her as I sat up, holding her in a tight hug. Whoever came up with the term daddy's girl wasn't joking. She has had me wrapped around her little finger since the day she was born.

"Merry Christmas to you too, Katie-Pie," I said as I scooted off the bed, still holding her.

We walked into the living room and she started to bop up and down in my arms at the excitement, so I put her on the floor and she took off toward the presents.

After we opened everything, I made us breakfast and went to take a shower. When I was done getting dressed, I changed the sheets on my bed, making sure everything was immaculate in my room since Bella would be staying over tonight. I headed into the living room so I could get Katie bathed and dressed in enough time to pick up Bella and Elyse so we could head over to my parents' house. I couldn't find her at first, but I didn't panic because every year she did the same thing. I walked over to the Christmas tree and started digging through all the piles of wrapping paper and tissue paper until I found her asleep on the floor, clutching a new doll that Santa had gotten her, under one of the piles; the wrapping paper covering her like a blanket.

I laughed as I scooped her up. "Come on you," I said to her as she opened her eyes. "We have to get ready to go to Grandma's house, and we are picking up Bella and Elyse on the way."

"Elyse is coming?" she asked as her voice raised a few octaves from happiness.

"Yes, remember I told you that yesterday?" I reminded her. "She is even going to sleep over tonight…and so is Bella," I said cautiously, trying to gauge her reaction.

"Yay!" she exclaimed, bouncing up and down in my arms.

I relaxed immediately knowing she was okay with it. I wanted my daughter's approval more than anyone's, and as long as she was okay with everything, I was okay with everything.

I got Katie ready, and with the help of our doorman, I got all the bags of gifts I had to bring to my mother's house loaded into the car. I called Bella right before I left to let her know I was on my way.

When I pulled up in front of Bella's apartment complex, she was already outside with Elyse waiting for me.

I put the car in park and quickly got out and ran around to the other side to help Bella with her stuff.

"Merry Christmas, Elyse," I said as I bent down to give her a hug.

"Merry Chwismas, Edverd."

Bella smiled at me from over Elyse's shoulder as I picked the little girl up and helped her into the car. Once she was buckled in, I pulled Bella to the back of my car and opened the trunk to place her bags in there and give us some privacy from little prying eyes. When the trunk opened, I pulled her into my arms.

"Merry Christmas, Isabella," I said as I pressed my lips against hers.

She wrapped her arms around my waist and melted into my chest.

"Merry Christmas, Edverd," she teased and smiled against my lips.

"Oh, you want to talk like a little girl?" I asked, pulling my face back to look at her and cocked an eyebrow. "I'll just have to take you up to my old childhood bedroom today and take you over my knee."

Her breath hitched. I thought maybe she would slap me, but instead she stood up on her tiptoes and brought her mouth up to my ear.

"Promise?" she whispered as her hand ghosted across my crotch.

Holy shit! I just stood there with my mouth hanging open. Bella laughed and stepped backwards out of my grip, shut the trunk and walked around to get into the car.

I stood there for a second, trying to calm myself down. I buttoned my coat, thanking God that it was long enough to cover my now hard dick, and walked around and got into the driver's seat. I shot her a you're evil look, which just made her laugh.

We got to my parents' house, and after Emmett and Jasper helped me lug all of our gift bags inside, we all settled into the living room, which was decorated to the nines thanks to my mother and her love for all things Christmas. My parents had the largest Christmas tree you could imagine thanks to the extremely high ceilings in the house…or "freaking huge mansion" as Bella liked to refer to it. My father fixed all the adults drinks as we sat around the fireplace talking.

Bella, Alice and Rosalie excused themselves after a while to help my mother in the kitchen while the guys all got down on the floor and started to put together the matching Barbie Dream Houses that my parents got Katie and Elyse. They were the only gift they were allowed to open before dinner.

"This shit is harder to put together than one of the buildings we design," Emmett said as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. He was getting really into it and was determined to figure out the directions.

"Uncle Emmett!" Katie hollered. "That is a bad word. Daddy gives me one dollar every time he says a bad word and we put it in the animal chawaty jar," she told him.

"The animal what jar?" he said to me.

I laughed. "The animal charity jar. We donate the money to the ASPCA."

"Ah…I see," Emmett said as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. "Here Katie Pie," he said, slapping a hundred dollar bill into her hand, "this could take a while and I am not making any promises." He turned back toward the pieces of the dollhouse that he was determined to put together.

My father stood up and shook his head at Emmett but couldn't contain a laugh. "Come on girls, let's go see what the ladies are doing in the kitchen," he said as he took both their hands and walked out of the room.

About an hour later, and after a few hundred more expletives out of Emmett's mouth, we finally finished. Jasper, Emmett and I stood back admiring our work on the two dollhouses proudly as if we were cavemen admiring the fact that we had just invented fire.

"We should open a new division of our company," Emmett said to me. "We could make a fortune putting together these freakin' things."

Jasper and I both looked at him and laughed at the serious expression on his face.

Right then, sets of hands wrapped around each of us as Alice, Rosalie and Bella came up from behind. I bent my knees slightly allowing Bella access to rest her chin on my shoulder.

"Dinner's ready," Bella said as she turned her head and kissed my cheek.

"Good," Emmett boomed. "I'm starving."

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "God you have an insatiable appetite."

"Don't you know it, Baby," Emmett said as he playfully smacked her ass.

Rosalie tried to give him her best stink eye but I noticed how she couldn't manage to keep it when she looked at Emmett, instead giving him a sexy smirk.

She allowed him to throw his arm around her shoulder and walked with him out of the room. Jasper turned and took Alice's hand and led her out of the room as well.

I turned as well, but before Bella could take a step back to walk toward the dining room, I grabbed her and pulled her to me. I dragged my nose along her jaw until it was under her chin, gently nudging her head back. "I missed you," I said as I began kissing her neck.

"Edward, your parents are in the other room," she said half lecturing, half moaning.

"So?" I murmured into her skin as I continued to lick and suck on her.

"So…it isn't nice to start something that can't be finished at the moment," she chided me as she slid her hands up to my chest, gently pushing me away as she turned to join my family for dinner.

"Oh, kind of like what you did to me outside of the car when I picked you up?" I grabbed her around her waist, pulling her back into my chest, sliding my one hand down her stomach until I cupped her warm center, while the other hand slid up and squeezed her boob.

She gasped, her back melting into my chest. She was giving me the exact reaction I had hoped for.

"But you're right," I said as I turned and kissed her cheek before letting go of her, walking around her toward the door into the dining room, "we should go and eat now."

I got to the door and turned back to her. "Are you coming, Sweetheart?"

Bella shot me the dirtiest look before she stomped across the room. The smug smile on my face was working her up even more.

"You are going to pay for that, Cullen," she hissed as she passed through the doorway and into the dining room.

Hey…that's what you get for making me have a hard on for the entire car ride over here.

She slid into her seat and quickly composed herself in her usual cool, calm and collected manner. I took the seat next to her at the long dining room table. The girls were seated at a little table on the other side of the room from us. My mother insisted on putting them there so that she could fuss over them during dinner, giving Bella and I the rare opportunity to actually get to eat a real meal without having to cut someone's food or get up a hundred times for more juice, or another napkin, or whatever other reason parents have for never eating a hot meal.

We said grace and then dug in. My mother had really outdone herself for dinner. She made a turkey with all the fixings. There was every kind of side dish you could think of. She did this every year because she would pack up a bag for each of us to take home so we had leftovers for the following week.

Dinner conversation was flowing and everything was going perfectly. Bella was even laughing at all my lame attempt at jokes, so I knew she wasn't really mad at me for leaving her a bit frustrated before.

I stood up to help myself to some more turkey when Bella took my plate from me.

"Oh, Honey, please…allow me," she said sweetly.

"Thanks," I said suspiciously, due to the saccharine tone of her voice, as I sat back down. Bella stood and leaned across the table to reach the food, giving me a perfect view of her ass, which she wiggled a little to taunt me. Thankfully, everyone was deep within their own conversations to take any notice. She finally sat down and handed me my plate.

I leaned in to her and whispered, "I know what you're trying to do, and it is not going to work."

"Why…whatever are you talking about?" she innocently asked as she batted her eyelashes.

I gave her a knowing little smirk and turned my attention back toward my food.

A moment later, Bella placed her hand on my knee. "Edward, could you please pass me the salt?"

I reached out and grabbed the salt, handing it to her. She took it with her other hand as the one on my knee slid up my leg, stopping in the middle of my thigh.

"Thank you, Edward, but silly me…I meant the pepper." She placed the salt down on the table without using it.

I knew she was up to something, but I kept a straight face, trying not to let her think she was getting to me with her hand inches away from my dick. I handed her the pepper and as she was shaking it over her food, her other hand slid all the way up until she grabbed my dick and squeezed it in the most delicious way.

"Shit!" I yelped loudly.

She halted her movements immediately, but left her hand where it was as everyone at the table turned to look at me.

"Edward," my mother chastised, "that is no language to use at the table, especially on Christmas."

"Uh…sorry Mom," I croaked out. "The potatoes are a little hot and I burned my tongue," I told her as I reached out and took a big gulp of my wine.

Everyone resumed their conversation, paying me no more mind. Well…everyone except Bella. She wrapped her little hand around my now full hard on, through my pants, and ran it up and down my length.

"Isabella," I growled quietly.

She finally turned her head so she was looking at me. "Yes, Edward?" she again said innocently as she continued jerking me off under the table.

"If you don't stop I'm going to cum in my pants," I whispered hoarsely as I fought desperately to keep my eyes from rolling back into my head.

"Oh don't worry. I won't let that happen," she said as an evil little grin spread across her face.

Just as I was about to ask her what she meant by that, she abruptly pulled her hand away and stood up. "Esme, let me help you clear the table," she said to my mother who had begun to remove the dirty plates.

My mother smiled warmly at her in thanks, and I watched as that little vixen gave me a sly smirk over her shoulder as she disappeared into the kitchen.

Everyone eventually got up from the table and either headed into the kitchen or back into the living room.

"Edward, are you coming?" Jasper asked, flashing me a knowing smirk. "Like…literally?"

"Fuck you," I spat to him as he walked out of the room laughing.

I sat there for ten minutes, praying to any god out there that my hard on would go down before I had to go and have family time. That was when I heard my mother's voice ring out.

"Use the one upstairs, dear. We are having the downstairs bathroom redone so it is a bit of a construction zone right now."

"Thank you, Esme," Bella's voice called out as I saw her head up the stairs toward the second floor.

Oh yeah! Game on, Gorgeous.

*BPOV*

I stood in the bathroom fluffing my hair and smoothing down my dress. I was wearing a grey, fitted sweater dress and high black boots. I knew the rest of the evening here we would be having family time, so I couldn't do anything else naughty to Edward. However, that didn't mean I couldn't look great so that by the time we got home, he would be begging to ravish me. This sleepover tonight was looking better and better by the minute.

I gave myself one more look in the mirror before I turned toward the door to head back downstairs to my man. As soon as I opened the door, a pair of strong hands…Edward's hands…grabbed me, picked me up, and flung me over his shoulder.

"Edward!" I squealed as I wiggled, trying to get him to put me down.

I felt Edward's hand slap down on my ass…hard! And dare I say…I liked it.

"Stop wiggling that ass of yours," he growled as he headed up the stairs to the third floor. "You teased me with it at the dinner table, knowing I couldn't do anything about it. But now, Isabella, I can, and will, do something about it."

I had never seen this side of Edward. He was always so gentlemanly, sweet and romantic. This was so primal and raw. There was nothing romantic about it at all…and fuck…I was turned on!

When we got to the top of the stairs, Edward walked straight across the hall and into the door of a bedroom.

He finally set me down on my feet, and the look on his face that I was met with was one of complete lust. I didn't want to break the mood, but I couldn't help but notice where we were. My eyes left his and I scanned the room. The walls were blue and there was a double sized bed in the middle of the room. Against the wall was a desk, and right above it was a bulletin board that had what looked like a varsity letter for football tacked on to it, along with a bunch of newspaper articles related to his high school sports career, and even some pictures of friends and what looked like him and his prom date.

"Is this your old bedroom?" I asked him, finally bringing my eyes back to meet his.

"Uh-huh," he said as he licked his lips, the intensity still burning strong within him.

"You were quite handsome in your football uniform," I told him as I pointed to a picture he had in a frame on his nightstand. "You must have had many girls up here with you," I teased.

"Isabella," he said as he took a step toward me, desire still seeping out of every pore on his body.

"Yes?" I responded as I took a step backwards.

"I don't want to talk about any other girls." He took another step forward.

"Well, wha…wha…what do you want to do?" I stuttered, now clearly so turned on by this animalistic side of Edward that I was a blubbering idiot. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I took another step backwards, backing right into his desk.

Edward took one last step forward and rested his hands on his desk, on either side of my hips. He brought his face close to mine.

"You," he growled.

Oh my!

Before I could respond, Edward spun me around so I was facing the desk. I laid my hands flat along the top to support myself as he roughly pulled the bottom of my dress up and slid his hand into the top of my stockings and into my panties. He started rubbing circles on my clit, hissing at what I could only assume was the knowledge of how wet I must have been already. I could certainly relate to how he was feeling because he was grinding his extremely hard dick into my ass; letting me know how turned on he was too.

"You have been quite the tease all day, Isabella," he told me as he removed his hand from me, causing me to moan from the loss of contact, but shocking me further as he pulled my stockings and panties down to my knees in one single move.

"And now I plan to do something about it."

I heard him undo the buckle of his belt, followed shortly by the sound of his zipper coming down, and his pants falling to the floor. All of a sudden his hands were back on my hips and he pulled me back into him so that I was now bent at the waist, hands still on his desk.

He moved my hair so that it was all hanging over one shoulder. He leaned down, pressing his chest into my back, while he licked the side of my neck that was now exposed to him. When he made his way up to my ear lobe, he took that between his teeth and bit lightly.

"Do you feel what you do to me?" he asked as he rubbed his dick into my bare ass.

"Yes," I whispered. The lust in my voice was very apparent.

"You are so beautiful," he whispered back into my ear. "You know I love you, Gorgeous, but right now I. Want. To. Fuck. You. Is that okay with you?" he said in a highly seductive voice.

I couldn't even speak, so I just nodded my head, letting him know silently that I was more than fucking okay with that.

"Good," he said as he placed a kiss on my neck before slamming into me.

"Ung!" I grunted.

He pulled out all the way before deliciously, almost possessively thrusting back into me; claiming me as his own. My dress was bunched up around my waist, so Edward slipped one hand underneath the material and up to my breast. He pushed my bra up so that he could cup me. He started pinching and pulling at my nipple as his other hand slid off my hip and around my front to my clit again.

"God, Bella, you feel so fucking good, Baby."

He pushed all the way inside me, and rather than pull out again immediately, he started swiveling his hips, hitting parts of me inside that I didn't even know existed.

"Oh shit, Edward!" I screamed as my head flew back, resting against his shoulder.

"Does that feel good, Baby?" he asked before pulling out again and pounding back into me.

I turned my head so that I was looking at him and he quickly leaned down and took my mouth into his, sucking on my bottom lip before his tongue slid into mine. We kissed frantically as he continued his movements in and out of me from behind. His fingers on my clit were making me see stars, and soon I pulled back from our kiss because I just couldn't concentrate on so many sensations at one time. I leaned down onto my forearms and rested my head on my hands as he continued his wonderful torture with his fingers and his dick.

After several more thrusts from him, and several more circles with his magical fingers, I felt my belly start to tighten, and I couldn't hold it back anymore. I came…hard…around him.

"Fuck!" he yelled as his movements sped up, and after several more thrusts I felt him still as he spilled inside me. Immediately after, he collapsed on top of me, resting his head against the back of my neck. We were both breathing so hard, and I could feel his heart beating on my back.

Finally he stood up, helping me to stand up straight as well. He spun me around and pulled me into his arms.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he kissed the top of my head.

"You could say that," I laughed into his chest.

I felt the vibrations of his laughter as his chest shook slightly. He pulled back so I could lift my head and look at him.

"Sorry about that," he said, clearly not meaning it because he had a cocky ass smirk on his face.

"Yeah, sure you are," I teased back.

He lifted his hands to cradle my face before he brought his lips down to kiss me gently.

"You are exquisite, Isabella Swan, and I love you with all my heart."

My heart melted. How could a man who just took me roughly from behind turn around and say something so sweet and from the heart? This is why I loved him. And he loved me. I knew that for a fact because he had now said it to me twice. I wanted to say it back so badly, but I was still scared. I knew completely that Edward was not James…in any way, shape or form…but there was something that was keeping me from uttering those words aloud to him. Maybe now, in his childhood bedroom, after wild sex, and our families waiting downstairs, wouldn't be the best time for me to say it for the first time, but I was determined to own up and let him know how I felt.

I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed him back passionately, trying to tell him with my kiss that I felt the same, even though I couldn't get the words out just yet.

We pulled out of our kiss and he let me know he was just going to clean up quickly in the bathroom. I couldn't help but laugh as he walked like a penguin into the attached bathroom with his pants still down around his ankles. When he exited, he told me he was going to head down before me so that no one would be suspicious, allowing me time to fix myself.

After he left the room I straightened myself out, fixing my hair in the process. When I headed back downstairs I spotted Edward casually sitting on the couch next to his mother. Esme looked up at me as I walked into the room.

"Bella, are you feeling okay?" she asked. "Your cheeks are all flushed."

Edward nearly choked on the drink he had just taken a sip of; luckily, Esme didn't notice.

"No, I'm fine. I think it is just the wine. I'm feeling a little warm," I told her.

"Sure it is," Rosalie said from across the room where she was perched on Emmett's lap.

I shot her a death glare as she just smiled and buried her face into Emmett's chest to keep from laughing out loud.

Thankfully Esme had already lost interest in the conversation due to the fact that the girls were bouncing around, begging us to let them open presents.

So the rest of the evening went by with more gifts, lots of laughter, and so much happiness. It was the first Christmas I had in a long time where I felt completely surrounded by family. Rosalie and Alice had always included Elyse and me in whatever family gathering they had on the holidays, but I always felt like an outsider. Don't get me wrong. I love the Hale and Brandon families but they weren't my family. But being here with the Cullen's…with Edward and our daughters…I felt a sense of peace in my life that I hadn't felt in so long.

For the first time in a long time I felt a bit of my anxiety and fear chip away. Elyse and I were going to be okay. All of my hard work and caring for my daughter on my own was paying off. I was finally allowed to have some happiness in my life, and it was much more than I could have ever asked for.

Edward and I finally left at about midnight. We packed in as much of the girl's gifts as we could fit in his trunk, but Edward finally told his mother he would have to come back tomorrow and get the rest. We said our goodbyes and carried the girls out to the car. By the time we pulled in to the parking garage of Edward's building, both girls were passed out cold. We carried them upstairs and put them to bed in Katie's room.

When we walked out of the room, Edward closed the door quietly behind him.

"This feels so natural," he whispered.

I didn't need to ask what he meant because I just knew. He was referring to putting the girls to sleep together, working in quiet unison, as if we were a real family.

I smiled and let him wrap his arm around my shoulder as we walked silently toward his bedroom. We were both exhausted. It really had been a very long day, but I let him slowly undress me and lay me down on his bed. He made love to me slowly, quietly. As he lay on top of me he took his time, not hurrying at all. It was so sensual and I felt completely consumed by him. As he kissed me continuously, I let my hands roam across the firm muscles of his back, allowing myself to memorize every dip and curve under my finger tips.

After we both experienced intense orgasms from our slow and prolonged movements, he rolled off and pulled my back into his chest as he spooned me from behind. I eventually heard his breathing even out and I knew he was asleep.

It was about two in the morning, and as tired as I was, I just couldn't fall asleep. Something was weighing on my mind, and I just lay there in his arms, staring out the window as I watched the snow falling outside. I slowly peeled myself out of his grip and sat up in the bed. I got up and walked across the room so that I was standing in front of the large window looking out across the view of the city that you could see from being this high up.

After standing there for several minutes, I was startled when I felt a pair of arms wrap around my naked body from behind. I hadn't even heard him get out of bed.

"What are you looking at, Gorgeous?" he said quietly as he rested his chin on my shoulder.

"You have an amazing view from up here and it's snowing. I just had to take a better look," I told him.

"Are you sure that's all?" he asked as he turned me around to face him, pulling me into him as I wrapped my arms around his waist.

I looked up at him. He was so beautiful. His face was illuminated only by the light coming in from the window. How was it possible that he was all mine?

I blinked several times, just staring up into his beautiful green eyes.

"I love you, Edward," I breathed out.

His eyes widened slightly before his lips curled up into a smile.

"Thank you," he said softly to me.

"Thank you for what?" I asked with a nervous laugh.

"For giving me the one thing that I wanted most for Christmas," he told me. "I love you too, Isabella Swan, and I promise to spend the rest of my life making sure that you never forget that."

With that he lowered his lips to mine before bending down and picking me up, cradling me to him tightly, where he carried me back to the bed and made love to me once more.

*EPOV*

The next morning I woke up with Bella still in my arms. We had a long day and long night yesterday, so I didn't want to wake her. I just held her close and watched her sleep. She looked so young, so beautiful, and so peaceful. It was the way I wanted to wake up every day, and it was a look I wanted to see on her for the rest of her life. I was tired of the look she had where it seemed like the whole world was resting on her shoulders. She had been through so much in her young life, and I wanted to be the one to take all that weight away from her.

I love her and she loves me.

I always knew how she felt, but it was still wonderful hearing her say it. I knew she was scared of handing her heart over to someone so completely, but she had nothing to worry about when it came to me. I would never hurt her, and I would do everything in my power to make sure that no one else ever hurt her either.

After about a half hour she finally started to stir.

"Good morning," she said through sleepy eyes and a yawn. She rolled onto her back and stretched.

"Good morning," I replied back as I let my hand run over the front of her body, gently massaging her breasts.

"Mmmm, I could get very used to waking up like this," she said before I leaned in and kissed her.

"Me too," I told her as I rolled on top of her, settling myself between her legs. "We have to be quiet, though. I heard the girls get up about ten minutes ago. I'm sure they are occupying themselves with some of their new toys, but I'm positive it won't be long before they come looking for us to make them breakfast," I said as I sunk into her.

After we finished making love, we got dressed in our pajamas that we hadn't even had on all night and joined the girls in the living room. Bella made us a big breakfast of eggs, pancakes, bacon and fruit. As we sat there eating, I heard some faint music coming from the direction of my bedroom.

"What's that?" I asked.

"That's Momma's cell phone," Elyse responded as she chewed a piece of pancake.

"Elyse," Bella said in a serious tone, "it isn't polite to speak with your mouth full."

Bella made no move to answer the phone since she was eating, so I ignored it and continued to eat. A minute later we heard the ring again.

"Geez!" Bella said. "Doesn't anyone understand that it is the day after Christmas?"

I watched as she pushed her chair away from the table, got up and walked down the hall toward my room.

The girls and I finished eating and they ran back into Katie's room to play as I cleared the table. When I finished up in the kitchen, I walked down the hall and into my bedroom where I found Bella perched on the side of my bed with her head in her hands.

"Bella, are you okay?" I asked.

She looked up at me and I could see her eyes were red from crying. I flew across the room so that I was sitting beside her. I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her into me.

"Bella, what's wrong? Is everything okay?"

I felt and heard her sigh into my chest.

"Yes, I'm okay," she said unconvincingly. "It's just that…that was James on the phone. He wants to see Elyse. I knew this was coming, he told me as much when I saw him at the country club, but now that it is here…it is just all so real. He is going to call me tomorrow to set up the specifics for a time and place. I want Elyse to have a relationship with her father if he has really changed, but it doesn't make it any easier on me to have him stroll back into her life after all this time."

I knew I was being irrational, but part of me wondered if that last statement applied more to her than it did to Elyse.

I pulled her onto my lap and held her tightly to me as she buried her face in my chest. I rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head.

"Just when things in my life are going great…that is when he decides to pop back in. Why now?" she asked.

"I don't know why things happen when they do, but this time around you have me," I told her. "No matter what happens with James, I will be by your side through it all. You won't have to make these decisions without having me to help you through it."

She squeezed me tighter around my mid-section before she leaned back and looked up at me.

"God I love you, Edward," she said.

I smiled back at her as I tucked her hair behind her ear, while using my thumb to wipe away a stray tear that had fallen.

"I love you too, Bella, and no matter what happens we will get through this together."

A/N: If you would like to listen to the song we quoted at the beginning, here is the link...
www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=hj0yVN8pFNw

Holly mentioned this in the last update for "Where There's Smoke," but in case some of you don't read that story I wanted to mention this here too. We first of all want to thank all of you who leave us comments and reviews. We read every single one of them and try our best to respond back to as many as we can. With that said…there are a bunch of you who have our story on alert but we don't hear from you. I know some of you have told us that English isn't your first language so you are reluctant to leave a review but so far we have understood everything perfectly. We aren't published authors so we can't go by book sales and stuff like that. The only way we know you are out there is if you let us know. We love getting to know you guys. Whether it is just to say hello, or let us know about something you loved or hated, or ask us a question…we want to hear it all. So please…click on that little review button below and tell us what you think!

If you need us to send you a teaser you can leave that in your review. I have been making note of those of you who have done so already, so that if you can't get on to our Twilighted Forum to read the teaser…we will send it to you directly.

I am working on the next chapter of "Where There's Smoke" now so look out for an update to that soon.

IMPORTANT: Holly and I are participating in The Fandom Gives Back fundraiser. We are auctioning off two things...

We are offering a one-shot for Edward's POV of chapter one in our story "Beautiful Stranger."

We are also offering an outtake of the winner's choice from either of our existing stories. Winning bidder(s) will dictate what positions/circumstances they would like to see in the story.

For more information please visit the following link. www(dot)thefandomgivesback(dot)com/

Have a great weekend everyone!

Pauline & Holly
xoxo